


A Long Day for Both of Us

by DjDangerLove



Series: Tarlos March Madness [16]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: 2x08 coda, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 04:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30083175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DjDangerLove/pseuds/DjDangerLove
Summary: “I’m right here, Ty,” Carlos assures again, frowning in concern at how disoriented the other man seems to be. He brushes his thumb against TK’s jaw, encouraging him with a gentle tap to a patch of stubble and a, “Hey, look at me. You feeling okay?”TK nods, grinning like he doesn’t have twenty-three stitches in his head. “You just look different.”Or: Another coda for 2x08
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Series: Tarlos March Madness [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189232
Comments: 14
Kudos: 348





	A Long Day for Both of Us

**Author's Note:**

> Tarlos March Madness #16 of 31

Carlos casts the hospital room in the golden glow of a single lamp light from the corner of the room while a sliver of green peeking out from behind eyelids rising and falling like an ocean tide track him back to the side of the bed. He lets the mattress take his weight at the thigh, leaning against it while reaching out and rubbing the backs of his fingers against TK’s cheek. 

“Hey, Sleepyhead,” he says, the corner of his mouth curving up at the drowsy grin TK gives him. “You should get some rest.”

TK runs his tongue funny across the roof of his mouth as if trying to encourage it to work. He’s still a little out of it and in enough pain that the pinched lines around his eyes never seem to go away, but he reaches for Carlos all the same. The officer offers up his hand, letting weak fingers fumble around his until they’re intertwined. He feels a _“please stay”_ pressed against the back of his hand and squeezes back. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here. Okay?”

“I just want to see you,” TK says, one eye blinking slower than the other until he smacks himself on the nose with the pulse ox meter clipped to his index finger trying to rub at them. Carlos catches him before he can do it again and guides the hand back down across TK’s stomach.

“I’m right here, Ty,” Carlos assures again, frowning in concern at how disoriented the other man seems to be. He brushes his thumb against TK’s jaw, encouraging him with a gentle tap to a patch of stubble and a, “Hey, look at me. You feeling okay?”

TK nods, grinning like he doesn’t have twenty-three stitches in his head. “You just look different.”

Carlos gives a glance over his shoulder at the deserted hallway hoping to see a third shift nurse wander by the open door. When no one does, he reaches for the call button attached to the bed, but TK’s voice keeps his fingers from pressing it. “You seem…more relaxed…happier.”

“Well, I found you. Didn’t I?” Carlos laughs.

“No, I mean…in general. From before all of this.”

Carlos eases down onto the mattress where Gwen had sat not too long ago and smoothes the blanket down over TK’s leg as he collects himself on a breath saturated with happiness. “A lot happened today, and I promise to tell you all about it when you’re feeling a bit better, but just so you know, you’re expected at next Sunday’s dinner at Tìa Lucy’s.”

TK’s eye go comically wide, bright and glassy tinged with panic. “Wha- I mean- that’s…but I-you-“

“Hey, hey,” Carlos shushes on an airy laugh while rubbing at TK’s side through the rough material of his hospital gown. “Don’t freak out. It’s alright. We’ll talk about it later. Right now, you need to get some sleep.”

Exhaustion chases away the panic, but pain holds fast keeping TK’s body rigid against the mattress. “I honestly don’t know if I can.”

“Because of the pain?”

Shame steals TK’s gaze, but not his honesty. Carlos stands from the bed in order to press a gentle kiss to the uninjured side of TK’s head, the feeling of gauze against his lips making him scrunch his nose. “It’s ok, Baby. We’ll get through it together. You want to make room for me?”

TK shuffles over to the edge, pulling back the blankets as Carlos toes off his shoes and circles to the other side of the bed. It’s awkward trying to find a way around the cord to the blood pressure cuff, but eventually TK comes to rest against his side tucked under the safety of Carlos’ arm around his shoulders. Weak fingers bunch the fabric of Carlos’ sweater as wet eyelashes flutter against his neck. 

Carlos presses warm fingers between the back closings of TK’s hospital gown, rubbing a silent assurance directly against his skin. “I love you so much, TK,” he says, because he can’t remember saying it since they parted ways that morning. He says it again because there had been a chance that he would never get to. “I need you to know that I love you.”

His answer comes in waves, like water lapping at the shore. First, by the ghost of breath against his neck stuttered by the way it comes from a trembling mouth. Second, by the slow slide of warm tears gathering at the collar of his shirt followed by a whisper. “Some days it’s the only thing I’m sure of anymore.” 

Carlos feels guilty in the relief of it, wishing TK’s pain could be chased away by words of affirmation like his had been all day. “What can I do, Ty?” 

TK shifts his head, leaning back far enough to stare near crosseyed at him with a grin that shouldn’t be able to pull against the pain pinched in the corners. “You’re doing it. Just being here. I…” the smile drops off his face, always more susceptible to fear than anything else. “I was afraid I would never see you again.”

“Why would you think a thing like that?” Carlos says, shifting just enough to bump their noses together. “You already used your one free pass to stand me up on a dinner date. You’re not getting a second one.”

TK laughs, bright and unexpected with rose colored cheeks, punished for it with a spike of pain that makes him groan underneath it. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

“Not when it makes you blush adorably every time I use it against you,” Carlos smirks, chuckling when TK pinches his side. 

“You’re a menace, Carlos Reyes.” TK says, relaxing back against him. “But I love you anyways.”

Silence falls in the spaces between the soft blips of the heart monitor for long enough that Carlos thinks TK’s managed to doze off, but then a sniffle is muffled into his sweater before his boyfriend asks, “You sure you’re okay?”

Carlos shifts, barely stopping himself from jerking forward when it feels like he’s going fall off the side of the narrow bed. He takes his free hand and rubs assurance into TK’s belly. 

“I promise. You don’t need to worry about me.”

TK’s hand rests atop Carlos’ on his stomach, pulse ox meter tapping against the knuckle of his index finger. “I’m always going to worry about you.”

Carlos sighs, resigning himself to the fact that he’ll never fully be able to calm TK’s nerves. “Okay, Tiger, but how about we just lay here and not worry for a bit?”

He feels a headache building behind his eyes but knows it’s nothing compared to the nerve endings lighting a fire underneath the bandages around TK’s head so he gives voice to, “I’m really proud of you,” instead. 

“For being kidnapped?” TK quips, head bobbing drowsily against his shoulder. 

“For holding your own, for leaving us a clue, for braving this without pain meds, for the strength you’ve shown this last year. All of it, TK.” 

He feels a slow, warm breath of air against his neck before TK says, “I’m tired.”

Carlos tries to find a better position for his back, sinking a little lower against the recline of the bed and hugs TK a little tighter. “Then close your eyes, try to get some sleep.”

“I-“ but TK stops abruptly, melting into Carlos’ side with a stuttered breath. “Okay.”

“Unless you meant something else?” Carlos asks, trying to push away the exhaustion clinging to his senses in order to grasp on to things TK lets fall between them like dead leaves in the fall either to be appreciated or completely ignored.

“Ask me when my head isn’t split open,” TK mumbles, and it’s the last thing Carlos remembers before sleep claims him. 

——————

He wakes to the feeling of being cold, fingers searching for the comforter that TK usually hogs at night but jolting awake when they find the rough stitched material of a hospital blanket instead. His back protests at the sudden change in position as he sits up straight, eyes going to the empty bed beside him to find TK sitting up on the edge, hands gripping the mattress hard enough the muscles in his arms are pulled tight as his legs dangle over the side. 

“Babe,” Carlos calls, clearing his throat when it comes out a bit hoarse. TK’s only response is to tense even more, his spine straightening in clear view by the split in the back of his gown. “Hey, you alright? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” comes from between gritted teeth as Carlos rolls off the bed and rounds it. “I just need to pee.”

TK looks peaked, skin only a few shades darker than the bandages circling his head, and he’s pushing air through his teeth like he’s trying not to throw up. Carlos squats down in front of him to get a better view of his face and runs a comforting hand against his leg where his gown rides up from the way he’s sitting. 

“Talk to me,” Carlos urges, wincing when TK opens glassy eyes with a shake of his head. 

“I was dizzy. Just needed a second before I stood up.” TK starts to slide off the bed, socked feet falling to the cold, tiled floor before Carlos stops him with hands to his waist. 

“Hold up, you weren’t about to try to go to the bathroom on your own were you?”

TK frowns at him while batting away the hands preventing him from standing. “Don’t mother hen me. I don’t have a catheter so I can go to the bathroom-“

“Yes, with help,” he agrees, letting TK stand up on the rubber dots covering the bottom of his socks. “You’re dizzy and in pain and if you fall then-“

“Yeah, I get it.” TK cuts him off, looking down with a scowl at the way his gown falls around his knees. “I’m an idiot-“

“Hey, woah. No, that’s not at all what I meant,” Carlos fusses back, keeping him cornered by the bed. His boyfriend glares at him for the duration of two audible clicks of the second hand on the wall clock above the bed before deflating and falling into him. Carlos catches him in a hug with a, “oh, okay, Tiger” and nuzzle to the side of his neck. 

“ ‘m sorry,” TK mumbles against his shoulder, fingers twisting the hem of Carlos’ shirt. Carlos lets him, knowing it’s going to stretch it out beyond repair and kisses his own apology to TK’s cheek. 

“It’s been a long day for both of us, huh?”

“Yeah, but I’m really glad you’re here.”

“Of course, Ty,” Carlos says, patting TK’s side. “You ready to make the trek to the bathroom?”

TK answers by pulling away, but Carlos keeps a hand at his elbow as they cross the room. TK doesn’t bother shutting the door, but Carlos stands in the doorway just in case a nurse decides to come check on him at the wrong time. The officer watches TK glance at himself in the mirror while he washes his hands and is a little caught off guard when he’s caught staring. 

“You got a thing for mummies in open-back hospital gowns or something?” TK grins with one side of his face and rubbing at the other _almost_ bashfully. 

Carlos leans against the doorframe and gives him an obvious once over while running his tongue along his bottom lip. He meets TK’s gaze and gives him a wink, unable to keep the smile off his face when it makes his boyfriend blush. “I’ve got a thing for you.”

“Stop trying to make me feel better,” TK groans, rubbing one socked foot against the other and tugging on the neck of his gown. Carlos moves forward and wraps his arms around him, fingers toying with the strings keeping his gown closed.

“No can do on that one,” Carlos says, kissing the tufts of hair poking out from the bandages. “I’m always going to do that.”

Unfortunately, there isn’t much else he can do for the rest of the night. The clock on the wall turns slowly, TK a bit faster as he tries to find a position to sleep in leaving Carlos to fold into the chair next to the bed. They try to watch TV when neither can get comfortable enough, some 80’s cop show that has TK asking a thousand questions about proper procedure before Carlos steals the remote to change the channel. 

He leaves it on a cooking show, thinking TK will be bored enough to go to sleep. It’s near the end of the episode as the host gathers around her kitchen table with family to serve the meal she’s just instructed how to make that TK, with eyes open to mere slits, calls for him again with a soft, “Hey, ‘los?”

“Hmm?”

“What’s your aunt Lucy like?”

A warmth settles over Carlos, one that not even the hospital air condition blowing directly over his head could tame, even if it is a bit unfair given that TK is now the one apprehensive about being around Carlos’ family instead of Carlos himself. He pulls his feet from where he had them propped on the foot of the bed and turns to TK.

“Well,” he begins, leaning his elbows on the mattress by his boyfriend’s hip and running a hand over his leg. “She’s very…loud. A talker, you may not even have the chance to say anything when you meet her. She’ll tease you, probably give you a hard time at first but it’s just her way of breaking the ice.”

TK smiles but his nervousness makes it lopsided and small. “She sounds nice.”

“She is. You don’t have anything to worry about, okay? And if you’re not ready for it, then we’ll hold off on dinner until you are,” Carlos promises. 

“I am ready. It’s not that,” TK quickly assures, finding Carlos’ hand and squeezing it. “It’s just…”

Carlos waits, letting TK trace the length of each of his fingers with his own as he tries to find the right words to explain, “My family is splitting up _again_ and…you’re… reconnecting with yours kind of and I don’t want to mess that up.”

“TK,” Carlos sighs and shakes his hand free from TK’s in order to cup his face, running his thumb soothingly along his cheek. “None of that is on you. Your family or mine. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Everything is going to be fine.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Kudos are appreciated. Comments are food.  
> Find me on tumblr @ DjDangerLove


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